Am I eating too much fat and protein ???

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jameela798
jameela798 Posts: 22 Member
I started a low carb, high fat diet 6 weeks ago and I lost weight only in the first few weeks. Since then I've gradually been putting the weight back on. I've still been avoided consuming carbs but someone mentioned yesterday to me that I could be eating too much protein! Is this correct?
Protein comes mainly from meat am I right? So basically I'm eating too much meat! I thought meat was one of the best things for me to eat? I'm so confused now. Also is it correct if too much protein is consumed it turns to sugar??? Also I'm struggling with my fat consumption. I'm finding myself eating high calorie foods to get the fat amount required daily, I think I've got myself into a rift ! Advice much appreciated!!

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  • ladipoet
    ladipoet Posts: 4,180 Member
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    Protein is found in meat, eggs, nuts and seeds, cheese, yogurt and much smaller amounts of it can be found in fruit and vegetables. Protein is basically in all whole food sources. Your diary isn't public. It would help if you opened your diary so we can take a look for ourselves. What are your macro %'s for Carbs / Protein / Fat set at and what does that translate into in grams on a daily basis? There is a prevalent theory out there that if you eat too much protein, your body will convert excess protein into glucose (blood sugar) and store it as fat. This process is called glucogenesis and it happens in the liver; however, there may be other things going on with your eating habits which you may not be aware of. Do you log all your food every day? Do you weigh and measure your food or just eyeball it? Do you use a lot of sugar substitutes / sweeteners? Are you consuming a lot of dairy? Do you have any underlying medical conditions like T2D, T1D, PCOS, IBS? If so which one(s)? Are you taking medication for the condition? If so, what medication are you taking and how much? We need more information if you are willing to share it with us.
  • dancing_daisy
    dancing_daisy Posts: 162 Member
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    Your diary is missing numerous days and has some, what appear to be, part days. Are you still counting calories? Most people find it difficult to over eat on LCHF but there are a number of people who do. If you're not logging 100% you wont know your calorie intake, LCHF has a number of benefits but its calories in vs calories out that causes weight loss.
  • Carnivorekat
    Carnivorekat Posts: 370 Member
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    I am eating only meat and fat and drinking water and have lost loads of weight this week - I would say you need to be strict with weighing and logging for a while to see where you are and log macro's as well as calories to see what is going on. Its always easier to see what is happening when you have full facts - there are some people who do struggle with too much protein, and if they have a medical condition it can cause them to turn protein into glucose it would all depend on what your levels are
  • Sunny_Bunny_
    Sunny_Bunny_ Posts: 7,140 Member
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    If I understand correctly, you're making a conscious effort to reach a certain amount of consumed fat every day. Even beyond what you're specifically hungry for??? That isn't a bad idea in the very beginning as a way to say "Hey body, here's your new fuel. Use it! You ain't gettin nothin else!" Lol
    But now that you're a few weeks in, you're body has gotten the message and you don't need to consume the whole amount of fat calories it gives you. If you are actually finding that you look at your consumed fat and see its low for the day and you're feeling hungry, real hunger and not boredom or an idea that it's noon so I'm supposed to eat now kind of hunger, then definitely eat. But if you notice your consumed fat is lower and your completely satisfied, don't worry about eating it.
    See, you've spent the last few weeks teaching your body that fat is its preferred fuel. So, if you don't feed it enough, it will use fat from storage and that's what most of us are hoping for.

    And as far as the idea that Keto or low carb is a primarily meat diet, that's not really the case.
    The true idea behind it is to eat just the required amount of protein to save or build muscle if you're working out, and eat quite a lot of green leafy vegetables. This is what the idea behind counting net carbs was created for. Not for sugar alcohols but to allow lots of veggies. Everyone's personal thrrshhold is a bit different, but the basic recommendation is 50g NET carbs. But only fiber from green leafy veggies are subtracted. Not fiber added to Atkins or quest bars or any sweeteners. That whole thing was created by Michael Eads and was first introduced in his book Protein Power. He was interviewed saying that once the processed food companies (Atkins) got wind of it, they started slapping "net carbs" on all their candy bars, I mean meal bars :wink: Lol

    Anyway, that doesn't mean you can't have a mostly or even completely animal product based diet, because several of us in this group do and lots of other people. I probably consume a total of 8 ounces of vegetables (usually broccoli, zucchini or romaine lettuce) over an entire week most of the time. I feel best this way. For some reason I just can't digest that stuff without feeling awful.
    This doesn't necessarily mean that I eat way more protein than most people though because I add whatever fat I need to achieve satiety, and that's probably no less than 120g a day. I don't log food anymore and I haven't since going carnivore, so I honestly have no idea what my numbers are like.
    Maybe I'll log today out of curiosity???
    Anyway, a high protein diet can be fine though. The idea that it turns to glucose is true but not always conveyed accurately. It's a demand driven process. If you're providing enough carbs from veggies to supply all or most of your brains glucose needs, which is lower in a fat adapted person, then the body doesn't need to turn protein into glucose, or not much anyway. And if it does, it's because it needs it...
    An exception to this is if you are insulin resistant or type 2 diabetic. Because of the high insulin production, the demand is high for glucose to prevent blood sugar from going low. However, the best way to correct the high insulin problem is to stop providing so much glucose... So keeping protein limited is often the way to go. At least until insulin resistance is reversed.
  • jameela798
    jameela798 Posts: 22 Member
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    Wow sunny bunny. Fantastic read. Thank u so much for taking the time to write to me. My partner is diabetic type 2. So should he avoid eating too much protein then as it turns to glucose as he's diabetic?
  • jameela798
    jameela798 Posts: 22 Member
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    Your diary is missing numerous days and has some, what appear to be, part days. Are you still counting calories? Most people find it difficult to over eat on LCHF but there are a number of people who do. If you're not logging 100% you wont know your calorie intake, LCHF has a number of benefits but its calories in vs calories out that causes weight loss.

    I keep forgetting to log my meals on the mfp.

  • DianaElena76
    DianaElena76 Posts: 1,241 Member
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    I find when I do log my food I'm surprised at the macros sometimes. I might think I'm eating too much fat and find out it's not much after all, or I might think my carbs are going to be really low and find out that they're higher than I wanted. So I would start with consistent logging and then play a little detective. @Sunny_Bunny_ always knows what to say. :)
  • Riche120
    Riche120 Posts: 154 Member
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    Sunny Bunny did a great job of explaining it. She's right that everyone's threshold is different. I have the opposite problem from her and get stomach aches when I eat meat, so I'm primarily a vegetarian. I rely mostly on eggs and dairy for protein along with vegetables. It makes a Keto diet a little more difficult, but not impossible. Logging everything in the beginning really is helpful for showing where you can tweak things for improvement. It also puts into perspective just how bad that one (latte, cookie, candy, etc.) really was for your macros when you see it in writing.
  • Sunny_Bunny_
    Sunny_Bunny_ Posts: 7,140 Member
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    jameela798 wrote: »
    Wow sunny bunny. Fantastic read. Thank u so much for taking the time to write to me. My partner is diabetic type 2. So should he avoid eating too much protein then as it turns to glucose as he's diabetic?

    He will be more susceptible to GNG making glucose from protein because of the high insulin levels.
    Have you used one of the macro calculators to figure out how much protein is recommended for each of you? They're in the launch pad info.
    It will give you 3 options from which you choose based upon your exercise levels. If he decides to aim a little higher (10g or so) than the calculator recommends, I doubt that would be enough to be an issue. Just try to stay within 10-15g either way of the goal amount on a daily basis. If going over every single day, then maybe tightening up a bit would be a good idea. But, he should be able to tell if the chosen protein is a good range if blood sugar doesn't go high about 4 hours after a meal.